A major RETROSPECTIVE covering the life works of the great Venetian painter, Canaletto has opened in Rome. Celebrating the 250th anniversary of his death, the exhibit charts his entire career spanning more than 70 years. Take a look.

Canaletto chose his birthplace - Venice - as his most celebrated subject, but it is Italy's capital that is hosting a major retrospective of the artist's works for the first time at the Museum of Rome.

Opening to coincide with the 250th anniversary of his death in 1768, the exhibit brings together 68 paintings, drawings and documents spanning Canaletto's entire career.

Giovanni Antonio Canal, better known as Canaletto, was born in 1697 in Venice, when the lagoon city was still one of the most powerful and refined trade and art capitals in Europe. His descriptive paintings, with their hyper-realistic level of detail, became the most famous iconography of Venice in the18th century, forming the image of Venice for travellers of the Grand Tour.

BOZENA ANNA KOWALCZYK CURATOR "We are aware of the fact that there are the opinions of the English agents and clients who describe him as a greedy and stingy artist who was changing the price every day and as somebody you have to be very careful with as he could not deliver the painting. Basically you have to take a lot of precautions to deal with him. But I think this is a sort of fictional image, also because the idea of such a self-confident artist works and is attractive. But in the end, I believe that Canaletto was a humble, calm man who loved his work, loved Venice, but also loved London, its castles, the landscape."

As part of the exhibit, for the first time, the "Chelsea from Battersea reach" canvas will be put back together since it was cut into two paintings and sold separately prior to 1802. The left hand, belongs to the National Trust Collection and the right is normally kept at the Havana National Museum. Today they are reunited.

Among the most noticeable works of art, visitors will be able to admire the famous "Canal Grande from North, toward Rialto bridge" and "Canal Grande with Santa Maria della Carita'", displayed together with a manuscript from the Lucca's library explaining the details of the commissioning of the painting.

BOZENA ANNA KOWALCZYK CURATOR "Well, we don't have to expect from Canaletto the real reproductions of the places. These places are very rich of details, where the light goes all around, places that are marvelously reproduced. But these are places that remain in the mind of the audience, even if they are not as the real ones and that does the trick, the trick that Canaletto introduces in his every piece. And that's why it's so fascinating seeing it."

"Canaletto 1697-1768" runs from April 11th to August 19th at the Museum of Rome.